IPL 2018: Playing for India is my ultimate dream, says Nitish Rana

Nitish Rana put on another magnificent all-round show on Wednesday night as Kolkata Knight Riders breached Rajasthan Royals’ fortress in Jaipur with a thumping seven-wicket victory. This was Kolkata’s second consecutive win and Rana has been Man of the Match on both occasions.

Speaking after the match, the 24-year-old Rana said his ultimate aim is to play for the country but for now he is entirely focussed on the IPL.

"It's there at the back of my mind (to play for India), but right now my focus is to do my best," Rana quoted at the post-match presentation.

Nitish Rana has stunned one and all with his wicket-taking ability in IPL 2018. He has scalped 4 wickets in 5 matches this season thus far. Rana recorded his career-best bowling figures (2-0-11-2) in IPL last night by getting rid of Rajasthan openers – Ajinkya Rahane and D'Arcy Short.

"I know that my job is to defend runs and that's what I was striving for. I bowl regularly in domestic cricket. I backed myself, and I'm lucky to be man of the match in both these last two games," he added.

While chasing RR’s target of 161 runs, Rana scored a classy 27-ball 25 with 2 fours and a maximum but he was seen getting angry on himself after the dismissal. Talking about that moment, Nitish revealed he was livid after missing out on easy scoring opportunities although KKR were in control of the chase.

"It's a big platform this, we don't get loose balls regularly. The ones we get have to be converted into boundaries. That's why I was getting frustrated that I wasn't able to put some of them away," he concluded.

As far as Kolkata Knight Riders’ overall showing in IPL 2018 is concerned – they have won three out of their five matches thus far and are currently leading the points table on account of superior run-rate. The Dinesh Karthik led side will now take on Kings XI Punjab in their next clash at the Eden Gardens on Saturday (April 21).